Tankers Restricted In Lots

NORTH LAUDERDALE — The City Council on Thursday tentatively approved an ordinance that would prevent commercial vehicles carrying chemicals from parking for extended periods in the city.

The ordinance follows a precautionary evacuation on July 28 in which public safety officers forced about 200 residents to leave their homes for four hours. Police evacuated the homes after they discovered phenol -- a potentially hazardous industrial solvent -- leaking from a truck parked in the Presidential Plaza shopping center lot in the 7200 block of Southgate Boulevard.

Police discovered the chemical leaking from a B&B Chemical truck after the liquid dripped on an 11-year-old boy who had been playing under the tanker. The youth was not seriously injured.